


Headstrong

by CommanderDicksquad (kittenteeth)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Rating for later chapters, Slow Build, eruri - Freeform, online dating au, warning for erwin typing like a lame dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-24
Updated: 2014-02-26
Packaged: 2018-01-13 14:41:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1230253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittenteeth/pseuds/CommanderDicksquad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hanji pushes Levi into the world of online dating, where he meets Mr.Tall blonde and stupid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know what i'm doing.  
> please bear with me.

The cafe around them was bustling, lively with the rush of early birds and coffee addicts alike. Hanji had drove them there, as she usually did and Levi picked where to sit while she waited in line and ordered for them. This was their Fridays. Meeting up, having a drink and generally enjoying the others company before work. It was going well until Hanji had dropped the bomb on him.

"You did _what_?" 

Hanji smiled sheepishly in return. "Don't give me that look." He was glaring at her, he realized. But it was a well earned glare. "Lots of people use the internet to find someone to-"

"But I'm not looking for someone." Levi said in a low venomous tone, his hand squeezing around his coffee a little stronger than he meant to. It was the truth, he had no real interest in dating recently. He was busy with his own life. And sure he was getting older now, but he didn't feel the need to settle down or even date at all. "And I especially do not want to meet someone online." 

Why she would make a profile for him, he couldn't say. Although it wasn't terribly shocking for Hanji to blatantly ignore boundaries and did what she thought was best like that. He knew she meant well deep down, and honestly he didn't hate that. However when she stepped into his life and took over, well it was a little aggravating. She waved her hand in the air as if she was batting away the tension. 

"Don't be like that." Hanji cooed. "What's the worst that can happen? There's no harm in simply talking to someone." She said so matter of factly that Levi sighed. There was no harm in it but Levi just didn't see the appeal in talking to strangers. She folded her arms on the table and leaned forward, looking more serious than necessary. "You've just seemed so lonely lately." That struck something in Levi, reverberated through him like he was a tightly strung wire. He wasn't lonely. There wasn't a reason for him to be, that was like admitting some sort of stupid need, weakness, for needing someone. And Levi wasn't stupid nor weak. He was perfectly fine alone and it was annoying that Hanji would even suggest otherwise. What was more annoying is that she used his picture and made a fake profile for him on some dating website where God knows who has seen it. It made his skin crawl.

"I'm not lonely." He sipped his drink. "Take the page down." 

"You haven't dated in three years." She argued. "C'mon, just take a look at least."

"I don't care. No."

"Just one message. A 'Hi, hows it going?' to someone nice looking?"

"No." He knew it was no use, really. Once she got something like this in her head like this it was almost impossible to get her to drop it. She would push and push and push until he would finally cave. And with her domineering demeanor and his stubbornness it could go on _forever._

She gave an exaggerated sigh and pulled out her phone. "What if I told you three guys have already messaged you?" She said it like it would be exciting to him. His face twisted.

"I swear to God if you've been pretending to be me-"

"Relax," She interrupted. "I didn't open them. Just checked out their profiles." She was so creepy sometimes he wondered why he was even her friend in the first place. He watched as she pulled up a profile. "Bachelor number one." She grinned, handing him the phone. He decided to humor her just this once, hoping it would get her off his back. He scrolled down, thumbing through the mans profile. He was gross to say the least. His username was ridiculous, DaddyCool69, and his interests listed where too vulgar for Levi to even repeat out loud. After he glazed over the about section he clicked into the photo gallery and grimaced. The man was balding on top, looked like he had just done too many shots and stared into the camera like he was some crazed pyscho. He probably was. Either was the man was as far from 'his type' (if he even had a type) as possible. He scoffed and slid the phone back to her. Before uttering "Next." She smiled, knowing how absurd the man was and clicked into the second mans profile before handing the phone back to him. Levi lazily sipped at his coffee, deciding to go straight to the photos before bothering himself with reading the personal information. He scrolled through the few photos that were there. He looked up at Hanji, a little incredulous.

"What kind of full grown adult man is blond?" Hanji just laughed her bark of a cackle in reply. He zoomed into to one of the images now, actually looking at the man. He wasn't ugly. No, for what it was worth the man was actually what others would call good looking. His face was chiseled and his smile was warm and charismatic, he seemed to be at some sort of social event, dressed crisply in a nice dark suit. Levi sneered, something had to be wrong with him if he had to try and find a partner via web. The man looked obviously wealthy, and handsome enough to find dates, so why was he here, messaging Levi of all people? Maybe it was a fake picture. That seemed more like it, really. Some loser stole some images in hoping to trick a poor unsuspecting idiot into meeting up with them. Honestly, what was wrong with people? And this asshole honestly thought Levi would fall for it. That kind of ticked him off. He flipped the phone back towards Hanji. 

"This one. What'd he message me? I want to read it." It was probably something lewd, probably something to draw him in easily so the sick pervert could get his rocks off. Disgusting. Hanji just tapped the tiny envelope icon and handed it back to him. What he read not only shocked him, but ticked him off even more.

' **hello :-)** ' 

It was bad. It was stupid. There was a horrendous smiley in it. It was just too much. He placed the phone onto the table and looked Hanji in the eyes.

"This is stupid. I can't do this."

Hanji rolled her eyes. "Listen. If you message just _one_ guy I'll buy your drinks for the whole month."

"Will you shut up about my love life too?" She nodded once. "Make it drinks for a year and we have a deal." 

Hanji made sort of excited noise and grabbed her phone right out from Levis hand. He quirked an eyebrow curiously. "I'll text you the log in info. And you better not lie to me. I'll know if you do, Levi." He resisted the shiver that threatened to shoot through him whenever she used that icy cold tone. She would know too, she always knew when he lied to her. God damn scary lie detector of a woman. He felt his own phone buzz in his pocket and he fished it out. 

"My user name better not be something stupid." He spat as he opened his text inbox. His eyes skimmed over it, 'NeatFreek'. His username was NeatFreek. He could kill Hanji right now, right here in the middle of the coffee shop. "Neat Freak. Really." It was deadpan and dripped with disdain. She took in stride and grinned even wider, thinking she was the most hilarious person on the planet. It was no secret that Levi was somewhat of a germaphobe. It didn't bother him, it's just how he was. Although people often times had a ball picking on him for it. Which really was a stupid thing to tease about.

"I couldn't think of anything else!" She defended, still very amused and proud of herself.

"I hate you. I changed my mind."

"You can't." 

"Yes I can. Watch me." Hanji grabbed his wrist firmly.

"Don't back out yet. I'll buy your lunches for the year along with the drinks." 

He sighed, that he couldn't really pass that up. " _And_ you'll stay out of my personal life forever?"

"Yes."

He sighed and shook his head. "Fine, fine. You win." He couldn't believe he was doing this. It was stupid, so so stupid. But getting Hanji off his back was worth it. He took the last sip of his coffee and sealed his fate. "I'll message the blondie."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This man is embarrassing to talk to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i marked the first chapter as completed and also f/m, i should really pay attention more because this is neither of those things. fixed it now though.
> 
> not sure where im going with this story. i just wanted erwin to be awkward and bumbling and type like a dad.  
> and do you remember that headcanon that erwin sends co workers lame cat memes? i do.
> 
> just some things: there are a lot of words like dumb/stupid/idiot and some swearing if those words are triggering or bothersome, please turn back now!

Levi paced in his kitchen, glancing occasionally at his open laptop. He had made that promise to Hanji earlier that morning and he couldn't back out now, not when he was getting the better end of the deal. At least she wasn't trying to hook him up on blind dates, or sign him for speed dating without telling him, again. He decided it was time to bite the bullet and just message the guy. If he were completely honest with himself he was a little curious. He was still pretty sure the guys photos were faked and he was some sort of perverted lunatic waiting to kill Levi in some horrific way if they had ever decided to meet up. Not that Levi would meet up.

Before he even realized what he was doing, he had typed the url of the Godforsaken site into the bar and hit enter. He quickly tapped out the overly lame username Hanji had picked out, Damn her and he shitty sense of humor, and logged on. It only took a few minutes of trying to navigate the crappy site before he found the blonds profile though his inbox. Now that he could fully pay attention, he decided to review the mans profile. He skimmed his 'about me' and all in all it was kind of boring. Really boring. He liked to golf occasionally, and mainly concentrated on his work. Levi clicked his tongue. Whatever. It's not like he actually planned on talking to this guy more than once. He clicked on the 'message now' button and paused, considering on what to reply with. He thought back on the other stupid smiley he used and it bothered him all over again. What kind of old man did that? It was so dumb. He decided to be casual, trying not to invite in more conversation than needed.

' **Hi.** ' It was simple and now Levi could focus on making dinner. He didn't think Hanji would demand chat logs or anything, but he didn't want to risk it. By the time he had finished prepping his meal he had forgotten all about the dumb website, and the stupid man he had messaged. He haphazardly piled his meal onto a plate and sat on one of his bar stools to eat. His apartment was too tiny for a full sized dinner table, and it didn't matter because he didn't have guests over anyway. He stared down at his dinner for one and annoyance started to prickle at him. He wasn't lonely. He wasn't. He wouldn't let Hanji's words get to him, no matter how laden with concern they were. It wasn't weird that he was still single. He was almost thirty and yeah, a lot of people his age were settling own, getting married. Hell, some of them even had kids. But that lifestyle never particularly appealed to him. Who cared if a twenty eight year old man was still single and alone in his tiny little apartment. What did it matter to any one but him? This is how he wanted to live and dammit if anyone was gonna let him feel like a freak for it, not even Hanji. Before his thoughts could even continue an irritating beep came from his computer. Curious, he spun it to face him and to his surprise he had received a reply from that guy again, ESmith13. Even his username was stupid. Only a complete air head (or total fake) would actually make their real name into their username. He clicked the message.

' **My name is Erwin. how r u? :-)** ' The typing made Levis skin crawl. The guy was definitely a fake, and judging on typing alone, a total creep.

' **I'm doing fine.** ' He busied himself in his food, spearing a green bean on his fork when he heard another beep.

' **Thats good!! i saw ur profile and i think we could be friends!** ' Levi rolled his eyes. Right. Like he was going to be friends with some dating site serial killer.

' **Cool.** ' He kept his responses as clipped as possible, hoping he would get the hint and stop talking to him, apparently he was wrong.

' **:-) So wat is ur name?** '

' **Levi.** ' He considered giving a fake name, but he didn't care that much.

' **Thats a cool name! wat do u do for a living? im a lawyer** '

' **I guess. Don't they give you computer training in lawyer school?** ' 

' **:-( Sorry but i thought all the kids typed like this** ' What a shitty excuse. He clicked to his profile. He was a thirty three year old man he has no right to type that way.

' **You're not a kid. In fact you're kind of up there.** '

' **I thought u were going to be nice :-(** '

' **Sorry to disappoint.** '

Another, different beep tinged from his computer now, and the bottom right of the page blinked with a new pop up. _New Friend Request: ESmith13_ He clicked accept and now a little chat option appeared. He clicked it before typing out a first message. 'You're persistent, aren't you?' It showed that the other was typing, and he could only imagine this freak fumbling, trying to type, God he typed so slowly.

'Im not disapointed!!'  
'That's great.'  
'I just didnt think u would be so unfriendly!' 'I thought a lawyer would type properly.'  
'thats not very nice'  
'I'm not very nice.'  
'sorry, but i can tell'  
'Yet you keep talking to me.'  
'well u seemed interesting at first!! and rather good looking' Levi couldn't help but smirk a little bit at that. He didn't even check to see what picture Hanji had used of him. He couldn't think of a response and apparently he didn't need to, the other was apparently typing again.  
'do you not want to be friends :-(' As if Levi hadn't made that clear already.  
'What makes you say that?'  
'everything u have typed!! i just wanted to reach out and make friends and u seemed like we could get along but u dont want to even give me a chance'  
Maybe it was the dumb way he typed, or the very flattering profile picture of the blond that stared back at him, but Levi was more annoyed and frustrated than usual. He should have been meaner to this guy, Erwin, but for some reason he couldn't. Like he would feel guilty afterwords or something. How ridiculous. Like he cared about some random strangers feelings. Cared whether he made this guy feel bad. He scrubbed a hand over his face before typing a reply.

'I'm going to bed.'

He breathed a small sigh as he shut his laptop, not bothering to wait for a reply. He cleaned the remains of his dinner and tidied his kitchen. What has he gotten himself into? No, what has Hanji gotten him into.

\---------------------------

One city over Erwin Smith sat in his large office chair with a slight frown on his face. He hadn't done anything to provoke the man he was talking to, there was no need to for him to be so cruel. He leaned back thought about it. Erwin didn't find a problem with the way he typed, nor did his colleagues when he sent them emails with cats doing hilarious things. His favorite picture was the cat hanging from a branch with the caption 'hang in there, baby!' No Erwin was rather cool for an older man. At least he thought so.

He wasn't sure what brought him into Levi's page, but he wasn't going to give up hope. Perhaps he had a rough day at work and was just stressed out, and it dawned on him that he never found out what Levi did for a living. He'd ask again later when the other was in a better mood. Truth be told he didn't have many close friends and he was hoping to find more. A dating site might seem like an odd place to go for friends, but Erwin was kind of lonely and this seemed like the easiest and safest way to meet people. He just wanted some new face to talk to and maybe go to dinner with on occasion. He had colleagues, yes, and they were great but he just didn't have any friends he felt connected to on a personal level. Levi's profile was hardly filled in, and even then it was very basic things. Maybe Erwin was drawn in by the unknown, the mystery of it. Maybe it was because Levi was almost cute and youthful, despite the age that was listed. Or perhaps it was the package as a whole. Either way Erwin typed out 'good night' though it showed Levi as offline already. He would try talking to him again later to see if it would go better next time.


	3. What can I say?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's becoming a habit.

 Three days had passed since Levi spoke to that man online. He didn't think much of it, pushing it onto the back burners of his mind as his week continued. Work had picked up a little and he took on two more classes which effectively took up a lot more of his time. He had been a yoga instructor for a little more than six years now, never really tiring of the gym he worked at or the nice smiling faces of all the young women trying to stay in shape. He had grown accustomed to it by now. It was his profession, really. And maybe he took a little pride in it too. He did enjoy his work, it was nice, relaxing. Hanji had surprisingly only bugged him a few times since that night when he sent her a simple ominous text. 'The deed is done.' She nearly had a coronary when he said he would fill her in on the details later, not that there were any really juicy details to even go over.  
  
 Life continued normally for him. The whole ordeal hadn't even crossed his mind, not until Hanji brought it up again when they decided to go out to dinner together. "So have you heard again from that hunky guy?" She asked around a mouthful of food. Levis faced scrunched in disgust before he tossed his napkin at her.  
  
"We're in a restaurant, for gods sake, chew with your mouth closed." She just rolled her eyes and he knew that that was probably asking for too much. Hanji was never too great with table manners.  
  
"You're avoiding my question."  She pointed out. And yeah, he was, he was trying to get out of it completely. He just shook his head before uttering. "Nope. I messaged him once. That was our deal." And he knew that would not be enough for her. She would more than likely go into another speech on how worried she was for him, how she didn't want him to feel alone or left out. When it came down to it, Levi was sure it was because she was spending more time with her current partner Moblit and probably felt guilty about spending more time him than she was with Levi. What she didn't realize was that Levi couldn't care less about it at all. Sure he loved Hanji to death but he was perfectly fine on his own, not needing to be glued to her hip. In fact sometimes he preferred being alone. He never got lonely or needy or anything frivolous like that. Never. Not even a little bit. Not even when he was alone in his king sized bed with no one to cuddle up to at night. He really hated Hanji sometimes.  
  
"Levi." She tried again. "Why'd you stop talking to him, he was handsome right?"  
  
"I  _guess._ " He sighed.  She nodded at his response as if it was some important information that she needed to carefully calculate.  
  
"Whens the last time you uh, you know..." She trailed off, gesturing her hands in a lewd sexual manner that had Levis face twisting up again. Maybe it had been a while since he had seen some action but that didn't really matter, nor was it any of her business.  
  
"Don't be disgusting."   
  
"It's been a while, right?" She knew it had been more than a while, but he wasn't about to fess up to it. It was little more than two years since he had  _been_ with somebody. Whatever.  
  
"So?" He tried to sound casual about it.  
  
" _So,_ men have needs right?" Levi let his face fall into his hand.  
  
"Oh my god, this conversation is over." He groaned. The last thing he was going to be chastised on was his sex life.

* * *

  
 That night Levi felt restless. Maybe Hanji was just getting to him, maybe it was the three glasses of wine he had when he got home, but he was a little pissed at the world in his current state. The more he thought about it the madder he got. Why exactly was he single? At first he had told himself it was because he wanted to be, that he didn't need anyone but now that he actually put his mind to it, he wouldn't really  _hate_  being with someone.  His last few relationships had been disasters though. His first, and last, girlfriend Petra had only been with him a few months before Levi realized he was hopelessly gay. Then there was that guy, Gunther. Although he was more of a fling than a real boyfriend. It was beginning to dawn on him that he never really dated at all. And for some reason that just really didn't sit well with him. There was nothing wrong with him of course. He could get anyone he wanted with minimal effort, or so he thought. So what exactly was stopping him? It was probably just the wine pumping through him, but now some sort of determination coursed through his veins. He would find a date, even if it was just a one night stand, and shove it right in Hanjis face. It was really the only sensible thing to do.   
  
 He sat down with his laptop and waited rather impatiently for it to boot up, his leg bouncing nervously. Once he was situated and logged into the shitty website he noticed he only had one private message from the blond. Just a simple ' **how r u :-)** '. Levi opened the instant messenger and shot off a reply, hoping he would be online. Levi was never a lucky man, but maybe he didn't need luck for this. For the other to be online. After a few minutes of anxiously drumming his fingers on his armrest he got a reply. Levi breathed out a small sigh, here goes nothing.  
  
 _'_ **oh, hello!! it is nice 2 hear from u'**  
 **'Is that really you in your profile picture?'** Levi cut to the chase, not having time for how-do-you-do's or any of that bullshit. He wasn't going to deny he found the man attractive and he wanted to make this as quick as possible.  
 **'i would hope so! who else would it be??'** Right.  
 **'Prove it.'**  
 **'wat? how?'  
** **'Message me a current photo of yourself. Of your face.'**  
 **'so now ur bossy 2?'**  
 **'Just do it.'**  
  
If he couldn't supply an image within a few minutes, Levi could probably guess the guy was a fake. He didn't get a response for a while and Levi fell back into his chair and let an arm drape over his eyes. He knew it. The guy was a phony, too handsome to be true. It was definitely the buzz he had going, but this felt more devastating than it should have. He was just about to shut his laptop when it gave a low beep. Oh. Well that was a good sign. He sat up again, lo and behold he had received an image. He was hesitant for a second but clicked the link anyway. The lighting was bad and it was a little fuzzy, but that was definitely him. His hair was a little less perfect than the other photos and he looked almost a bit sleepy, but his smile was so awkward and just so dorky that Levi couldn't even look at it for too long without feeling a embarrassed.  It pulled at something in him and suddenly he wanted to talk more to this stupid handsome jerk of a man and oh yeah, that was most definitely the booze talking.  
  
 **'sent it :-)'  
** **'Yeah I saw.'  
** **'do u beleive me now?'  
** **'Yeah.'  
  
** Levi was probably regret doing this in the morning but right now he couldn't bring himself to care. His fingers hovered above his keyboard for a second before he typed it.  
  
 **'We should go out sometime.'**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this chapter is shorter than i wanted, but im working on making chapters longer.
> 
> also oh man okay there were so many different ways i could take this. im still trying to map out the direction i want it to go in, once i do i think ill get the ball rolling a little better.


End file.
